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Will Modi teach Togadia a lesson he won't forget?

April 21, 2014 15:31 IST

If Narendra Modi really means business, his government needs to arrest Dr Togadia immediately for what he has said and done in Bhavnagar and charge him with spreading hate in our society.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad's Pravin Togadia is back in business -- spreading communal hate.

What's worse, he did this in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, a state ruled by a chief minister who has declared that his only religious book is the Constitution of India.

On Saturday, April 19, Dr (yes, the hate-monger is a surgeon!) Togadia reportedly threatened a Muslim businessman who had bought a house in a Hindu-dominated area in Bhavnagar, asked his supporters to take control of the house and put a 'Bajrang Dal' board on it, The Times of India reported.

Giving the Muslim occupant 48 hours to vacate the premises, Dr Togadia told his supporters that if he did not move, they should go with 'stones, tyres and tomatoes.'

'The legal case will go on for years. I've done that in the past and Muslims have lost both property and money,' Dr Togadia was quoted by The Times of India as saying.

During his years in power, Modi is said to have reined in Dr Togadia, who, one Gujarat observer, claims is petrified of the chief minister.

Modi, the apparent front-runner to become prime minister, has often declared that his only allegiance is to the Constitution of India, even releasing advertisements proclaiming his fealty to the Constitution.

Will Modi now step up to the plate and assert in action what he has often declared in words?

There is no place for hate-mongers like Dr Togadia in India's public life.

If Narendra Modi really means business, his government needs to arrest Dr Togadia immediately for what he has said and done in Bhavnagar on April 19 and charge him with spreading hate in our society.

India expects nothing less from Narendra Modi.

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